The ball is in the government's court, MUT president insists

The Razzett tal-Ħbiberija and the Malta Union of Teachers yesterday called on the Education Division to draw up a legal framework to protect learning support assistants when they take children to the park for their much-needed treatment.

In view of the lack of a formal agreement, learning supports assistants have not been taking their students - about 250 in all - for treatment since last November on instructions by the MUT which said it was unclear who would shoulder responsibility in case of an accident.

As a result, children with disability have been missing out on the treatment they need as part of their rehabilitation programme, with some parents making the sacrifice of giving up vacation leave to take their children themselves.

According to the park's chief executive officer, Nathan Farrugia, the Razzett has been calling for such a formal agreement for a long time. There is "no common-sensical reason for us not to continue doing our job", he said.

"It is unacceptable to have children with physical and learning disabilities fall victim to a dispute between the MUT and the government. Unfortunately, we have no control over this situation. We strongly feel that children are losing out on important therapy that contributes to improving their quality of life," he said.

The programme, offered for free at the park, promotes individual development, teaches children new skills and helps them learn through non-academic experiences such as multi-sensory therapy, hydrotherapy and horse-riding, among others.

Mr Farrugia called on the MUT to withdraw the directives but, when contacted by The Times, union president John Bencini ruled this out completely.

"We should not pity the students but we should look at the situation holistically. There is nothing to protect learning support assistants and this has to be addressed. The ball is in the government's court now," he insisted.

Education Division director Micheline Sciberras said when contacted that the division was consulting the MUT and other non-governmental organisations on service protocols.

Asked about the possibility of an interim agreement being struck in order to enable the 250 students to be taken for therapy, Ms Sciberras said there were union directives in force so the division was speaking to the union about the matter.

Mr Bencini said that, once the legal framework was in place, the union would have no objection to assistants taking children to the park to follow the programme.

Mr Farrugia said the park was never told what the problem really was. Indeed, he added, the park was just "an unlucky bystander".

He noted that transport is also provided for free by the park, which spends about €18,600 (Lm8,000) a year on transport for the children to attend the programmes.

The park had to cancel the transport contract and lost money as a result.

Mr Farrugia said the park did not approach the new Education Minister, Dolores Cristina, on the matter as it was told that the issue has to be solved by the Education Division and not by the ministry.